Research Methods
A researcher wants to test whether listening to classical music improves memory. Participants were divided into two groups: one studied classical music while the other studied in silence.
What research method did the researcher use?
What is an experiment?
What is Confirmation Bias?
On a scale from 1-5, how well do you know the name of this form of operational Definition!
What is the name of this scale?
Likert Scale
A researcher is studying the effects of caffeine on reaction time. Participants are given either regular coffee or decaffeinated coffee, and their reaction times are measured using a computer-based test.
What is the independent variable?
What is whether participants consume regular coffee or decaffeinated coffee.
The process of asking a participant for permission to participate in a study.
What is this term?
What is informed consent?
A group of researchers surveyed high school students to examine the relationship between the number of hours spent on social media daily and their reported levels of anxiety. They find a positive correlation, indicating that students who spend more time on social media tend to report higher levels of anxiety. Still, they cannot determine if one causes the other.
What research method is being used?
What is a correlational study?
When a researcher's own expectations, beliefs, or personal biases unintentionally influence the results of a study, potentially skewing the data and leading to inaccurate conclusions.
What is this bias?
What is researcher bias?
A researcher wants to measure happiness in teenagers. They decide to use the number of times a teenager smiles in one hour during a social interaction as their measurement.
What is the operational definition of "happiness"?
What is the number of times a teenager smiles in an hour.
Psychologists are testing the impact of background music on memory retention. Participants either study in silence or with classical music playing, and afterward, they take a test to measure how much they remember.
What is the independent variable?
What is the presence or absence of background music (silence vs. classical music).
Participants are selected in no particular order or bias to make a study more reliable.
What is the term?
What is a random sample?
Researchers are interested in whether physical exercise improves academic performance in students. To answer this question, they combine the findings of 30 previously published studies that examined the relationship between exercise habits and students' GPA. By synthesizing the results, they aim to identify overall trends and determine the strength of the relationship across diverse populations and study designs.
What research method did they use?
What is a meta-analysis?
The tendency for people to believe, after learning the outcome of an event, that they could have predicted it all along, essentially overestimating their ability to foresee the result when they didn't have full knowledge at the time. It is commonly called the "I knew all along" phenomenon.
What is this bias?
What is hindsight bias?
A clinical psychologist is investigating the impact of mindfulness meditation on anxiety. They operationalize "anxiety" by measuring participants' scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) before and after a six-week meditation program.
What is the operational definition of "anxiety"?
What is scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).
In a study on the impact of exercise on cognitive function, participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups: no exercise, light exercise (walking), or intense exercise (running). Cognitive function is assessed through brain imaging that measures changes in blood flow to the prefrontal cortex after the exercise session.
What is the independent variable?
What is the level of exercise intensity (no exercise, light exercise, intense exercise).
The population of people that the study may apply to.
What is this term?
What is generizability?
Researchers visit a local park to observe how often parents intervene when their children get into conflict with peers. They record the frequency and types of interventions without interacting with the parents.
What research method is being used?
What is a naturalistic observation?
The tendency for individuals to answer survey questions or self-report information in a way that presents them in a socially favorable light, often by over-reporting positive behaviors and under-reporting negative behaviors rather than honestly reflecting their true attitudes or actions
What type of bias is this?
What is social desirability bias?
In a study on motivation, researchers want to examine how motivation impacts exercise habits. They define "motivation" as the number of times participants voluntarily sign up for and attend a 45-minute workout class over a 30-day period.
What is the operational definition of "motivation"?
What is the number of times participants voluntarily sign up for and attend a 45-minute workout class over 30 days.
A researcher is studying the effect of emotional state on decision-making under pressure. Participants are randomly assigned to watch either a sad video, a happy video, or a neutral video. Afterward, they complete a timed financial risk-taking task where they choose between risky (high reward) and safe (low reward) options.
What is the independent variable?
What is the emotional state induced by the video (sad, happy, or neutral).
The middle score in a data set when all values are arranged in ascending order, essentially dividing the data into two halves
What is this term?
What is the median?
A psychologist conducts an in-depth analysis of a 12-year-old boy with extraordinary memory abilities, allowing him to recall entire books after reading them once. Through interviews, cognitive tests, and observation, the psychologist explores the boy's unique brain functioning and personal experiences to gain insights into his exceptional memory skills.
What research method is being used?
What is a case study?
The process in which experts in a particular field evaluate and critique a research study, article, or manuscript before it gets published. This ensures that the work meets high academic standards and helps to eliminate bias and errors.
What is this concept?
What is peer review?
A researcher is studying the impact of self-control on decision-making in financial contexts. They define "self-control" as the proportion of times participants choose a delayed monetary reward (e.g., $50 in two weeks) over an immediate but smaller reward (e.g., $20 now) during a series of hypothetical financial decision tasks presented in a controlled laboratory setting.
What is the operational definition of "self-control"?
What is the proportion of times participants choose a delayed monetary reward over an immediate but smaller reward during a series of hypothetical financial decision tasks.
A team of psychologists investigates the impact of multitasking on driving performance. Participants drive in a simulated environment while either holding a phone conversation, texting, or driving without any distractions. Their performance is measured by recording the number of driving errors (e.g., running stop signs, speeding) and reaction time to sudden obstacles.
What is the independent variable?
What is the type of distraction while driving (phone conversation, texting, or no distraction).
The extent to which a test or measurement accurately assesses what it claims to measure.
What is this term?
What is validity?